There are some things that are certainties in life. Disney is slowly making their way through their animated film catalog and reconstructing them as live-action films. Another certainty we can count on is that big stars are climbing onto these new films like crazy. So it’s no surprise that Will Smith is eyeing a leading role in the classic 1941 story ‘Dumbo‘ that’s been in pre-production for a while with director Tim Burton.

I’m not sure if this is quite the best news, but Tim Burton (‘Beetlejuice‘) will direct a live-action remake of ‘Dumbo‘ for Disney. If you’re unfamiliar with the story of ‘Dumbo‘, it follows a baby circus elephant who is bullied because of his giant ears, which give him special abilities. The original film came out in 1941.

I love a good Disney movie. I still watch Disney cartoons under the guise of “my kids want to watch it”, no one buys this anymore, it just makes me feel a little less like a 7 year old if I pass it off as the kids. Like anything, there are favorites and then you have those not-so-favorites that you watch only if you have to and you’re going to stare at the top corner of the screen to try and keep from crying. ‘Dumbo‘ falls into that category for me. It has it’s good points, a drunk mouse is ALWAYS hysterical, but the whole separating Dumbo from his mom is just mean. I get it, there has to be an event that moves the story forward and apparently this heart-crushingly brutal scene is vital. I can’t listen to Alison Krauss sing ‘Baby Mine‘ as that is enough to send the water-works into a permanent and soul-crushing on position.

This my absolute favorite all time 2D Disney animated film. It doesn’t get better than this. For the first time ever, in celebration of this landmark film’s 70th anniversary, experience the daring adventures of the world’s only flying elephant with a dazzling all-new digital restoration and brilliant Disney enhanced high definition theatre mix sound. The inspirational tale of Dumbo, the courageous baby elephant who uses his sensational ears to soar to fame with the help of his clever best friend Timothy Q. Mouse, will thrill and delight audiences of all ages. And now, the award-winning music and empowering messages about friendship and belief in yourself reach new heights in this must-have Blu-ray high-definition presentation of Walt Disney s animated classic Dumbo! This is the best this film has ever looked. So crstal clear and the sound is even better. Must own definitely.

Back in 1941, Disney was at a low point. They had lost money on Pinocchio and Fantasia and were facing some nasty cuts and money loss. It was up to this new little film about an elephant with giant ears to put the company back on top again. I’m of course talking about Dumbo, which was originally supposed to be a short film of only a few minutes, but ended up running at just an hour long. Still short by today’s standards. Out of the 1940s, Dumbo was the most financially successful film, brining in almost double it’s cost and was met with a ton of great reviews. I mean, who doesn’t love Dumbo?

This year marks the first time that Pixar released to feature films in the same year. Usually, Pixar releases one film every year or two, but in 2015, we got both ‘Inside Out‘ and this new Thanksgiving release ‘The Good Dinosaur‘. There was good reason for this second release as well, as this might have been the first Pixar movie to ever have a troubled history of production. Back in 2009, Bob Peterson came up with the story and was set to direct ‘The Good Dinosaur‘ a couple of years later.

Given Robert Downey Jr’s current state of badassery and awesomeness, I can’t think of anything he could do that would not bring in the fans. Once he turned the corner on his bad boy behavior in the 1980’s, he’s the equivalent of a golden ticket. Team Downey, which consists of RDJ and his wife, Susan Downey, has been harboring the idea of a fairy tale they want to give the live-action treatment. The tale of Pinocchio is one RDJ has been developing for years, somewhat on the sly, with Michael Mitnick (‘The Giver‘) writing the most recent draft while RDJ is ready to board the project as Geppetto, the toy maker.

Disney has selected the next project for their ongoing trend of animation to live-action series, there’s a catch this time though. The source material was not a full-length film on it’s own, rather it was part of a compilation Disney produced in 1940 under the umbrella name of ‘Fantasia‘. The closing sequence of the musical conglomeration ‘Night on Bald Mountain‘, is the storyline that will receive a full live-action film treatment.

Disney is right in the middle of their latest trend in film. Taking their own smash animated stories and flipping them around, re-working them into live-action films providing double the bank off a single story. If you’re talking box office success, they’re mega-hits, if you’re looking at critically, they’ve missed the end zone more than they’ve scored. Next up for the family studio is ‘Beauty and the Beast‘.

Netflix still seems to be alive and well, despite their enormous price hike and falling shares. Disney announced yesterday that it had inked a deal with Netflix to show films from it’s studios including Disney, Pixar, and Marvel. This seems like a bigger deal than the arrangement Netflix once had with Starz.

Well it’s here everyone. Boomstick’s annual ultimate Geek Holiday Gift Guide for the holidays. So many great deals and uber cool and geeky stuff to get your loved ones and yourself this 2011 holiday season. As usual, you will be able to click on the link or picture that will take you to purchase the items. So enjoy and eat some good food and be safe out there this holiday shopping season.

A giant week for releases. And yes, this is a week late, but better late than never right? Okay, so let us jump right in and get to all the goodies. Some of the must own blu-rays include ‘Bridesmaids’, ‘Dumbo’, plus some other goodies. As usual, in this article, you will get some info about the disc and the extras that come with the movie as well as a personal opinion about the movie and a link to purchase the film over at AMAZON where you can save quite a bit of money, and it will give a small percentage kick back to this site so we can continue bringing you excellent stories and sales.

I just love when Disney takes a break from all the 3-D and CGI work and does an honest vintage 2-D hand drawn full length animated movie. Now while the recent Princess and the Frog was a bit slow, it still took me back to the days of Snow White, Lion King, and Dumbo.